Man pleads to lesser charge in teen's slaying

A man charged in connection with the shooting death of a Silver Spring teenager in November is awaiting a federal immigration judge's decision on whether to deport him after he pleaded guilty to aiding the shooter in the incident and, in a separate case, to the assault of a fellow inmate.

Gilmar Leonardo Romero, 20, was among three men who got into an altercation with a group of teenagers on a Ride On bus Nov. 1, 2008. As the men were leaving the bus, a Takoma Park man who was with Romero fired three shots into the back of the bus, prosecutors said in a June 1 court hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville.

Fourteen-year-old Montgomery Blair High School freshman Tai Lam of Silver Spring was shot and killed and two other teenage boys were wounded.

As part of the plea agreement, Romero pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact for second-degree murder, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. He had originally been charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Romero also pleaded guilty to second-degree assault after "striking and punching" an inmate April 1 while awaiting trial at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Boyds. That charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Circuit Court Judge Paul H. Weinstein did not give Romero additional prison time for the crimes but did give him credit for time served, dating back to Nov. 12, 2008, when he was apprehended in Houston by the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force.

"He's facing some really serious charges and this is a compromise we came up with that does meet the facts of the case," Romero's Rockville-based lawyer, Jonathan Fellner, said in court June 1.

The gunman, Hector Mauricio Hernandez, 21, of the 8600 block of Flower Avenue in Takoma Park, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder, the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence and two counts of first-degree assault. He will be sentenced July 30 and faces up to 100 years in prison.

The accessory after the fact charge indicates that "someone was murdered and you did something to help that person after the murder was committed," Weinstein said.

Police apprehended Romero shortly after the Nov. 1 incident and questioned him but he denied knowledge or involvement in the crime, Assistant State's Attorney Peter Feeney, the prosecutor of the case, said June 1.

Hernandez was arrested Nov. 7 in Takoma Park. But Romero and the third man, Mario Ernesto Milan-Canales, 30, fled to Houston, where they were arrested on a public bus and extradited to Montgomery County.

Milan-Canales has been charged with accessory after the fact and does not have a scheduled court date.

Romero is currently in custody of Immigrations and Custom Enforcement and will have a hearing Thursday on whether or not he should be removed from the country, said Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office for Immigration Review within the U.S. Department of Justice. He has been charged with "crimes involving moral turpitude" and residing "in the U.S. without admission or parole," which are both violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Komis said.

If the judge decides to deport Romero, the Department of Homeland Security handles deportation proceedings with his home country, which is listed as Guatemala, Komis said.

In the hearing, Romero revealed through an interpreter that he has been in the United States for four years and attended school through the 10th grade. His only family in the U.S. is "uncles, aunts and cousins" and he did not consult with any of them regarding his case.

Lam, of the 1000 block of Quebec Terrace in Silver Spring, was riding home from downtown Silver Spring the night of the shooting with a group of 10 to 12 friends, including his brother, Lam Cao, 16, according to court documents.

Police say there was a verbal exchange, mostly in Spanish, between Lam's group and a group of men including Hernandez and Romero. As the men were getting off the bus at Piney Branch and Arliss, the youths threw things at the men, spit at them and challenged them to a fight, Feeney said in court June 1.

Feeney said Hernandez then forced open the bus doors as they were closing and fired three shots into the bus near the rear door, striking three teenagers. The youths were taken to the hospital. Two survived, but Lam died.

rrival at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

Fellner said Romero had no knowledge Hernandez was carrying a gun when they met on the bus.